CinderChekov
by Needing-To-Shut-Up-But-Unable
Summary: This is a Chulu (Chekov/Sulu) story based loosely on Disney's version of "Cinderella" in which Chekov-Cinderella, Sulu-Prince. Rated for later chapters. Second in my Fairy-tale Series.
1. Monday

Not Mine, Never Mine, Usual Disclaimers.

* * *

><p>He wasn't special, no he really wasn't. People would comment on his intelligence, only sixteen and already in <em>Starfleet<em>? You're going places, mark my words boy. Boy, if there was one word he hated, it was boy. He was sixteen and Russian, he could hold his vodka with the best of them, he was attending The _Starfleet_ Academy, he was no boy.

'That is incorrect, can anyone tell the correct answer?' asked Professor Spock from his position at the front of the class.

Pavel Chekov did not need to look about his fellow class mates to know that none of them knew the answer.

'Contact engineering zen begin assessing ze damage.'

'Correct Cadet Chekov, can anyone tell me why and why contacting the captain first was incorrect?'

Again there were no takers, 'If zere iz an eletrikal fawlt, zen engineering vill be qualified to help, ze keptain vould most likely tell you to kontact engineering anyvay.'

'Correct. A _Starfleet_ captain is unlikely to have the skills to be of any assistance. Furthermore, engineering will inform the captain in due course. Not every broken light-bulb is an emergency, and in an actual emergency, the captain's attention will be needed on the bridge. Engineering will be the ones to decide if the problem is worth alerting the captain immediately, as a broken light-bulb could be an indication of a larger problem, or a light-switch that hasn't been switched.'

Several people giggled as the bell rang, indicating the official end of the lesson, Pavel personally didn't see what was funny; the broken light-bulb analogy was very fitting.

'Tonight's homework, outline the proper procedures for when a ship-wide evacuation has been issued. As an added incentive, those who turn in the top three homework assignments tomorrow will have the chance to attend a celebration in honour of Cadet Hikaru Sulu, thrown by Captain Pike this weekend.'

Pavel froze in his seat; Hikaru Sulu was the cadet who had saved a test drone from crashing after another cadet had panicked when a guidance system had failed. The higher-ups had said that Sulu had shown great aptitude during an emergency. This party must have been a way to thank him, as saving a remote-controlled drone wasn't exactly award-worthy. Rumour had it that Sulu was a ninja with the helm, and from what Pavel had seen of his test scores, they weren't exaggerating by much.

Pavel wanted to be a navigator when he graduated, and he hoped that he was paired with a helmsman half as good as that of Sulu, but knowing his luck, he would be paired with the idiot who would forget to disengage the hand-brake on their first trip out. If he was being completely honest, Pavel had a hero-worship thing going on with Sulu's reputation, and after passing the cadet in question in the corridor, a crush as well.

Pavel chucked his PADD into his bag as the room emptied, brooding over his complete lack of a soundwave's chance in a vacuum to ever even be noticed by Sulu, let alone befriend the guy. Still, if he won an invite to the party, at the very least he would have the chance to see the legendary, in some circles at least, Sulu up close, possibly even meet the guy.

'Is there a problem cadet?'

Pavel snapped his head up and realised that he was the last one left in the classroom and Professor Spock was looking at him expectantly.

'Zere is no problem zir, I vas zinking,' Pavel answered and hurried from the room.

'I can't believe I'm going to miss out on that party invite! I'm never going to get one of the top three assignments; I'm barely passing the subject as it is.'

Pavel snorted to himself as he passed, how anyone could fail "Proper procedures of _Starfleet_" was beyond him. Tomorrow would be the second half of the "What to do when your work area begins to behave inappropriately" one of many useless topics in a useless subject, well useless to some at least.

'There's only one invite up for grabs, and as far as I'm concerned it's mine.'

'I thought you said that Spock said that there were three?'

Pavel halted in his tracks, curiosity overtaking him, causing him to peek into the nearby study room. He spied Nyota Uhura talking to what he guessed was an Orion girl whom he was certain he didn't know, although it was hard to guess as her back was turned to him. There were only three Orions at the academy, and if he had to bet, Pavel would guess that she was Uhura's roommate.

'Chekov will get one for sure, and Carol will get another because she's Marcus' daughter.'

'Spock's a Vulcan, he's not going to award credit where credit isn't due, he'll award them on merit.'

'Yes, because as an admiral's daughter Carol is completely stupid and wouldn't know the procedures of a starship, despite spending several years of her life on board one (!)'

'Alright, admittedly she'd get it based on the fact that she could quote the regulations while having her appendix removed, but what makes you so sure that Chekov will get it?'

'I'll tell you what, if Chekov doesn't get it, you can have my invitation when I die of shock, and go in my stead.'

'What makes you think that I'm not already going?'

'So who's the guy?'

'Who says that there's a guy? Do remember that I was on the team that help build the drone, our presence at the party is to show our thanks that we don't have to spend the next six months rebuilding the damn thing.'

Pavel slipped away before the two girls could discover that he was listening in and headed back to his dorm room. Checking to make sure that he had no other homework for the moment, Pavel grabbed is PADD back out of his bag and set to work on his emergency evacuation procedures for Professor Spock.

* * *

><p>AN: I'm no good with accents, so I've probably butchered Pavel's, which I apologise for and I promise to try to stay consistent with it.


	2. Tuesday

Not Mine, Never Mine, Usual Disclaimers.

* * *

><p>Pavel hadn't slept well that night; he had kept rechecking his homework for any possible errors, even though he knew that they were flawless in their documentation. Proper Procedures of <em>Starfleet<em> was his first lesson, and Pavel had begun to worry that when he eventually did fall asleep, he would oversleep and miss the lesson entirely. If he missed the lesson, Professor Spock would count his work as late, and on principle he would be excluded from winning an invite, even if it was the best in the class. Pavel eventually gave up on sleep when his clock displayed that it was five in the morning, and dragged a random text book out, flipping through the pages listlessly until it was time to get up. Pavel was lucky, he didn't have to share his dorm with anyone, he suspected it had to do with his age; Starfleet didn't want a suit for sexual harassment against a minor to blemish their name. Pavel slipped on his Cadet reds and began his day.

Pavel honestly had no idea what happened around him until Professor Spock was calling for homework, and Pavel realised with a start that he was sitting in class. He handed his homework in with everyone else then listened to Spock's monotone as the class wore on. Pavel only partially listened to Spock and daydreamed about Spock presenting him with an invitation to the weekend party. Judging by the blank looks on nearly everyone's face, even if most of them were usually blank during this lesson anyway, so was everyone else. Spock's closing words seemed to jolt everyone out of the stupor they had found themselves in, and back into reality.

'Those who earn an invitation will be notified by the end of the day. For those of you planning on attending without one, it is by invite only, and identification will be required for entry.'

There were a few muffled groans that Pavel knew Professor Spock had heard. Parties thrown by Starfleet were often by invite only, it was an attempt to ensure that it didn't get out of control. They also provided opportunities for cadets to network with officers, and for the officers to learn the faces of cadets who were likely to receive their desired commissions upon graduation.

Pavel gathered his things and exited alongside his classmates before heading to the library to begin work on his assignment that was due by midnight on Friday. Friday, the same day as the party, damn it, Spock wasn't going to let anyone go if he didn't think that they weren't going to finish their work on time. There was a very real chance that even if he did think that the work would be completed on time, the invite would be invalid until the work was handed in anyway. Detailing how Starfleet protocol was created, how and why they are upheld, and in what manner may they be changed wasn't overly difficult, but it was time consuming. Pavel personally believed that the whole purpose of the class was so that no one had the excuse of "I didn't know" when the rules were broken. That and it was most likely that they needed an extra easy subject to help out the struggling students who had potential, that wasn't history.

'Pavel, hey Pavel,' yelled a cadet, running down the corridor.

Pavel had known him for nearly six months, but for that, he had no clue as to what the other cadet's name was, not that the cadet had ever seemed to notice.

'I'm headed to ze libwawy.'

'Ah, Spock's class I take it? That gives you what, two chances at going to that party to hook up with your man crush?'

'Tvo?'

'Well, one in Spock's class, one in his.'

'I am not in hiz cwass, I am in ze oder cwass.'

'So let me get this straight, you have a total hero-worship-man-crush on a guy you've only seen in passing down the corridor?'

'He has a reputation vich is good.'

'If rumour were true, then Kirk is sleeping with Captain Pike.'

'Bah, you are wery jealous.'

'Yeah right, I know you, while the centre of all your attention walks by without ever noticing you're alive.'

'Does not.'

'He's not all that far from us, would you care to put it to the test?'

Pavel looked up and saw cadet Sulu walking towards them, joking with a rather attractive brunette, coming closer now that Pavel and his friend had stopped. Pavel glanced around and saw an empty room across from them, so he grabbed his companion and hauled them both inside.

'You're never going to get a chance if you keep avoiding him.'

'Iz no use anyvay.'

'Coz of the girl? Seriously he's not into her, trust me.'

'Vot makes you so certain?'

'Because he was making eye contact with her.'

'Zo?'

'With a girl like that, her face not where you look unless you're not interested, if you know what I mean.'

'No I do not.'

'Sometimes I forget you're just a boy.'

_Boy_. How Pavel hated that word.

'Vell, if you are done insuwlting me, I zink I'll take my chances.'

'Aw, come on Pavel.'

But Pavel was already out the door and scanning the corridor for Sulu, and was disappointed when he didn't see him. Figuring that he had simply gone into his class, Pavel continued on his way to the library, ignoring the urge to go back and search for his missing man. Upon entering the library Pavel buried himself in a corner, surrounding himself in PADDs in an attempt to forget about handsome strangers in cadet red. He barely even registered when his friend came in and sat down next to him, grumbling about being left behind. It wasn't until his friend was shaking his shoulder and pointing to his watch that Pavel was even aware of the time. His next class was about to start, and it was on the other side of the campus. Pavel really hoped the rest of the week wasn't going to go like this.


	3. Wednesday

Not Mine, Never Mine, Usual Disclaimers.

* * *

><p>Pavel yawned; he had been too excited to sleep the previous night, as professor Spock's choices had been released that afternoon, with Pavel Chekov, Carol Marcus, and Nyota Uhura as the three lucky cadets. Pavel had spent half the night staying up and working on his project so that it may be finished by Friday. He was pleased to say that it was in essence, complete, it just needed to be written into coherent sentences, as professor Spock was likely to fail him if he handed in an assessment written purely in dot-points. Pavel had hoped to have it finished by night, he had time to work on it today and tomorrow, but on Fridays he had hardly any free time and was therefore unlikely to finish it. Besides, if he finished it by that evening, he could use his free time tomorrow to edit it, or catch up on some sleep, as with two nights in a row with inadequate sleep, Pavel was ready to crash. In either case, he would need to schedule time in to complete his allotted weekend homework time, as some of which he would usually be working on instead of attending a party on Friday night.<p>

Pavel dragged himself through a quick shower and picked up his PADD where Professor Spock's congratulations, or at least what passed as congratulations for a Vulcan, on his excellent work and his invite to the party. Pavel couldn't help but do a small dance on the spot, well it was more like hopping, as he pulled his clothes on, even if he did end up getting tangled and go sprawling. Still elated, Pavel grinned as he left his dorm room, and even though it was still early, the corridors were still filled with enough people that a few stared at Pavel's good mood.

'You're in a good mood,' snipped his friend, coming to walk beside him.

'Am I not zuppozed to be?'

'No one should be in a good mood this early. Most people shouldn't even be awake at this hour, unless their heading for bed that is.'

'Zen vhy are you?'

'If I'm not awake this early, then when it's time for class, I'm not awake enough to realise that I've walked into the wrong class.'

'Hey Wankey,' said a cadet with a nod as she passed them.

'Vankey?' Pavel asked.

'Yeah, I made the mistake of telling her that my brother used to call me Wankey growing up.'

'Vhy did your browder call you Vankey?'

'He said that out of the three of us kids, he was the only normal one, so if my sister was Skanky, which she wasn't she just had a habit of dating losers, then I therefore had to logically be Wankey. Guess it was better than Pukey Lukey.'

Pavel stared.

'I got food poisoning the first day of high school, and my dad called me Lukey when he picked me up. As if throwing up in the middle of the welcoming assembly wasn't embarrassing enough. At least it was dad who picked me up; I don't think I could have handled being called "sweetums" in front of my class mates.'

'Pavel?' asked a voice, interrupting their conversation.

Pavel and Lukey turned around to see Carol Marcus behind them, who then immediately looked Lukey over before turning her attention back to Pavel.'

'I was wondering if you could look over my assignment, the one that's due on Friday in Professor Spock's class? I just want to make sure that I've done it right. You can even bring your friend here,' Carol's eyes checked Lukey out again before she added, 'it would be really cool if you could bring your friend, and we could all hang out and study and stuff.'

Pavel had a sinking feeling about the whole thing, and was about to say no when Lukey got in and responded first.

'We would love to have a date with you. A, a study date that is,' stammered Lukey.

'Great, I'll see you in the library after classes have ended.'

Carol smiled and headed back the way she had come, looking back at the two of them twice, before rounding the corner and out of sight.

'Vhy did you do zat? I do not have time to help her.'

'Of course you do, all you have to do is show up and study. All she wanted was an excuse to hang out with me, and you were the most convenient one.'

'Vhat makes you zo zure?'

'Come on, she was totally checking me out, and if I'm wrong, then I'll offend her so that she takes off and leaves you in peace.'

Pavel sighed, 'fine, but you ove me.'

Lukey grinned and resumed walking, a new bounce in his step.

'I zought zat people veren't zuppozed to be happy zo early?'

'Yeah, well, most people don't have the potential to hook up with Carol Marcus.'

Pavel sighed again, it was going to be a long day, but at least he finally learned Lukey's name. The bad feeling Pavel had gotten when Carol had asked for help had not dissipated, and only intensified as he two of them grabbed something for breakfast. As they were sitting at the table Pavel pulled out his PADD, intending to get a few more minutes of work done while he could. Lukey snorted as he dug into what could easily be labelled as "one clogged artery to induce heart-attack filler".

'Vhat?' Pavel asked looking up as Lukey smeared more grease across his face as he shovelled his breakfast in.

Before Pavel could get an answer, someone knocked the poor Russian, sending the PADD in his hand to go flying into the next table over with a nasty crunch. Lukey immediately jumped up and grabbed it, but one look at the smashed screen and it was obvious that there was no saving it.

'You have a back up right?'

Pavel did, but he hadn't backed up his homework last night, which meant that he was going to have to start his assignment all over again.


	4. Thursday

Not Mine, Never Mine, Usual Disclaimers.

* * *

><p><em>Pavel was buried in books, he was drowning in them, they were pressing down upon him, pushing him under their intolerable weight. Pavel tried to call for help, this kind of thing just didn't happen in modern libraries, he didn't even know where all the books had come from. The rustling of the pages morphed into an evil laugh that came from everywhere, drowning Pavel again in a new way. Pavel tried to scream, to call for anything, but the books' were drowning out any noise he made, increasing in pitch. He saw Sulu on the edge of his vision, just outside of the disaster zone, laughing at him with the brunette from the other day. On top of everything, the ground began shaking as an earthquake struck, the groaning building sounding suspiciously like it was calling Pavel's name over and over.<em>

With a half-strangled yell, Pavel shoved the weight off of him, with a resounding crash, then a thump as he fell out of bed.

'Damn, it Pavel,' said a muffled voice.

Pavel looked around him and realised that he was perfectly safe within his dorm room, and that Lukey had been the one to wake him. The next thing he was aware of, was that that his alarm was blaring, and according to the clock, he was about to run late for class. He was glad that he had a free period first thing that morning, otherwise he would have missed his first class, but he was annoyed as he had planned on using that time for working on his assignment.

Lukey sat up and glared at Pavel without any real heat, 'way to knock a guy on his ass when he's just trying to do you a favour.'

Pavel sighed, but had very little sympathy for his friend, as he was the reason Pavel was in a mess to begin with.

'Hey you're not made because I didn't make it yesterday are you?'

Pavel was mad actually, Lukey's failure to show up the previous afternoon had left an air of awkward silence between Carol and himself. It had lasted a good quarter of an hour, before Carol had hesitantly asked him to go over her assignment, the reason she was there to begin with. He had expected her to have wanted someone to proof read her work, without giving someone an advantage at the same time which was why she had asked Pavel to do it. What he had found however, was something he would associate with someone just learning how to write a formal piece of work, not a Starfleet cadet, let alone an admiral's daughter. Consequently Pavel had spent the next three hours trying to help her fix it, but he had ended up doing most of the work himself. He had been given the impression as she walked away, that it had been her intention all along, after all, he had done the majority of the work, while she had worked on something else.

'You vere zuppozed to be zere,' Pavel snapped as he quickly changed clothes.

'Hey I'm sorry, not everyone is a genius like you, some of us actually need the extra credit, instead of just looking for something to do. I had an opportunity to gain extra credit and I took it, I'm sorry if I forgot to call and tell you.'

Pavel paused in pulling his shirt over his head and examined Lukey, deciding that he was being honest, and tried to smile.

'You at least going to tell me what happened?' Lukey asked, following Pavel out the door.

'Zhe came, it vas avkvard, I did her vork for her, did none of my ovn, zen I came home to zleep.'

'Wait you did her work for her? Why?'

'Zhe... manipulated me.'

'Wait seriously? That's awesome! I mean, what a bitch.'

Pavel gave Lukey a flattening stare before striding off down the corridor to his next class, fuming the entire way.

The library found Pavel once again hidden away in an attempt to finish his work before the morrow, and only partly succeeding. He became distracted by an argument coming from nearby, one voice in which he recognized the other he did not.

'Give it up Kirk, seriously, I'm here to study with someone, not pay attention to the ass that is your ego.'

'Oh yeah, so where is this person then?'

Pavel hunched down where he sat, hoping that being in the stacks, Uhura hadn't noticed him sitting there. He was in for no such luck as she exited the stacks and landed in the chair normally occupied by Lukey and flashed him a winning smile.

'So sorry I'm late Pavel, some guys just don't understand that the world does not in fact revolve around them.'

Pavel looked up to see whom he presumed to be Jim Kirk, son of the legendary George Kirk, give him a sympathetic look before walking away. Pavel seriously hoped that as soon as Kirk was gone, Uhura would leave him alone and go back to whatever it was that she was doing before Kirk had come and annoyed her. The universe apparently hated him when she pulled out her PADD and began working on something.

She glanced over and saw what he was working on, 'ooh, you're working on Professor Spock's assignment too? I've finished mine, but it's way over what we were asked for, so I need to cut some stuff out, care to help me?'

Pavel wanted to hit his head on the desk, he was too nice for his own good, yet he still took the PADD from Uhura and began to shift through the contents to see what could be removed. It was well after midnight before Pavel left the library, his incomplete assignment weighing heavily on his mind.


	5. Friday (Day)

Not Mine, Never Mine, Usual Disclaimers.

* * *

><p>Pavel awoke early, despite the late hour in which he had gone to bed, pulling out his assignment in a last ditch attempt to finish the damn thing. He had ended up needing to restructure Uhura's work so that it still made sense after he removed all the unnecessary information. As a result it was later then he would have liked when he was finally able to start on his own assignment, succumbing to sleep several times before giving up and heading to bed. He was left with the feeling of wanting to cry, especially after receiving a message from Professor Spock, telling him that should his assignment not be completed by four pm, then his invitation was void. Pavel weighed up the pros and cons of ditching his classes that day to work on his assignment, before deciding to attend, as nearly all of them had in class activities that they were being marked on. It didn't stop Pavel from rushing through his work, or using his PADD when he should have been focusing on the task at hand. This had caused several concerned looks thrown in his direction, as well as some annoyed and glaring looks from others. Fortunately no one asked him to stop, or confiscated his PADD, or asked him what he was so interested in.<p>

Pavel muttered a hurried apology to Lukey at lunch before ditching a class that was lecture only, rushing off to the library to finish his work. As the minutes kept rolling slowly by, Pavel became more desperate, he couldn't bring himself to do a minimal job just so that he could join some party. Even the chance to meet Sulu wasn't reason enough, as he would probably see his crush cast a look in his general direction, and then spend the rest of the night hiding in the toilets, hyperventilating. Had the due time been four pm, then Pavel would have just handed in what he had done, but as the official due time was still midnight, he just couldn't justify leaving it as it was. As four pm rolled around, Pavel let his emotions take control as he started to cry, shoving the PADD away from him, it was a vile, evil thing. He didn't care that he was making his face all blotchy, or that he was making a mess of the collar of his uniform. The salty liquid ran down his face and splashed onto the table; reminding him that Lukey hadn't even come looking for him after he ditched class.

'You ok kid?' asked a voice.

Pavel looked up, not minding being called a kid for once, and saw Jim Kirk leaning against the table, his friend, Doctor McCoy standing just behind.

He looked back down at the table and shoved his PADD towards Kirk, refusing to look up at the two older men. He heard Jim pick it up and begin tapping away, probably sorting through his files before the device was returned to the table.

'I don't get it, people say that you're really smart, how the hell have you not finished?' Kirk asked perplexed.

Pavel refused to look up as he answered, 'I had done mozt of it, but my PADD vaz damaged before I could back up ze viles. Carol Marcuz azked for zome help, but she juzt vanted me to do it for her and ewery time I tried to get her to do it zhe managed to conwince me to do it inzead. Zen vhen Uhura come to zit vith me zhe azked me to help her cut dovn on her vord count. Her vork vaz wery impressiwe, but it needed reztructuring for ze romowal of content and I lozt track of time, zhe did not zeem to care. I did not hawe time to finish it, I vazn't getting enough zleep, and zo I gave up.'

'Let me get this straight, those bitches made you do all their work just so that they could go to some dumb party? Makes a guy not feel guilty for sleeping around,' Kirk said, outraged.

'Makes me less disgusted by the fact you sleep around,' McCoy snorted, 'is this party really that big of a deal that two people need to take advantage of a third in order to go?'

'It vaz not about going to ze party, not to me, it vaz about zomone vho vaz zuppozed to be zere az vell.'

'Well, lucky for you kid, you can still go and woo said someone,' Kirk said beaming.

'How exactly is he supposed to do that if his invite is invalid?' McCoy asked.

'His is, mine isn't,' Kirk said smirking, 'think about it, it's a win for everyone. You can smuggle Chekov here in under my name, you can go have some fun and give the illusion to Pike that I'm actually there. I can stay here, finish Pavel's work for him, and get out having to go to Pike's stupid party without him actually realising I'm not really there. Pavel can have the opportunity to woo this mystery crush of his, while secure in the knowledge that his work shall be submitted five minutes before the due time.'

'Von't Professor Spock be able to tell you did ze vork?'

'Nah, you've taken good notes, I can make it sound like you.'

'Jim got full marks just for copying and pasting,' McCoy added scowling.

'It's not my fault some teachers don't care if you actually understand, as long as you can spout the official wording, you passed,' Kirk said innocently.

'This is coming from the only guy who studies regulations in order to exploit the loopholes so that he doesn't get into trouble!' McCoy exclaimed.

Pavel grinned as Jim looked smug, suddenly the young Russian felt as though his night was finally looking up. All he had left now to do was pick out something to wear, and hope that no one would look to closely when he arrived with McCoy.

* * *

><p>AN: I'm sorry this is a day late, I got distracted and forgot. That and for some unknown reason I keep thinking that it's Tuesday everyday.


	6. Friday (Evening)

Not Mine, Never Mine, Usual Disclaimers.

* * *

><p>Pavel was close to hyperventilating; after leaving the library, Kirk had followed him back to his place, to help him dress. He had waved off Pavel's insistence to help McCoy, waving him off saying that McCoy could dress himself, and he wasn't the one trying to get laid, even if it would do the grumpy doctor some good. It had taken half an hour before Kirk had found something that he would allow Pavel to wear, even though Pavel was sure it would make him look desperate. Kirk had then dragged him through the academy to one of the courtyards where McCoy was waiting for them. Kirk had waved his goodbyes and McCoy had led him to the hall where the celebration was being held, waiting to be let in. It was at this point that Pavel began to worry that they would be caught, and then there would be big trouble for cheating, but the guard simply waved them through, a bored expression on his face.<p>

'Right, this is where we part kid; I'll go make sure Pike believes Jim is actually here, you go woo someone.'

McCoy had immediately headed for the bar, while Pavel skirted the outside of the crowd, keeping an eye out for anyone who could identify him as a gate crasher. He slipped through the door leading to the courtyard when he caught sight of professor Spock heading his way, only to hear two people arguing as he hid in the shadows.

'And why won't you enjoy yourself?'

'I didn't do anything worth having a party over; I just did what I was taught to do.'

'When nobody else did. If that drone had been a real ship and you were at the helm, you would have saved a lot of lives.'

'It was still nothing special.'

'Fine, you can stay here and sulk then, I'm going to go see if Kirk actually made it like he said he would.'

Pavel pushed himself further back into the shadows as Captain Pike walked passed him, leaving whom Pavel presumed was Sulu, behind. Pavel debated with himself for a moment then decided that he had snuck into this party, at the very least he was going to catch a glimpse of the reason he came. Pavel started up the path that Pike had come from, then froze when he saw that Sulu was still standing there, looking in the direction Pike had gone.

Sulu seemed as surprised to see Pavel as Pavel was to see him, 'so I uh, guess you overheard all of that then.'

'I vaz vundering vhy you don't zink vhat you did vaz special.'

'Because it was what I've been training to do, if I can't do it with a drone, how am I supposed to do it with a starship?'

Pavel considered the answer he was given before asking his next question, 'Vhen you first mowed out of home, vaz it not zcary?'

'Terrifying, I called home everyday and cried myself to sleep some nights. Eventually I got over it and it became natural.'

Pavel blinked at Sulu, surprised at the severity of the older man's reaction to leaving home.

'Yeah, I may have over reacted, my parents weren't real thrilled. I grew up in San Francisco, so it's not like I moved vary far when I joined the academy. Nowadays they complain that I don't call enough.'

'Vell,' said Pavel getting over his surprise, 'vhat happened vaz like you mowing out of home for ze otherz, ewentually zey vill learn to cope.'

Sulu smiled at Pavel, 'I guess I never thought about it like that before. I'm Hikaru by the way, although I guess you already know that. Dare I ask what you did to get invited here tonight?'

'I vazn't, not really,' Pavel admitted, looking at his feet.

'Gatecrashing?'

'Not because I vanted to.'

'Ok,' said Su-Hikaru with a grin, 'now you get to explain that.'

Pavel and Hikaru sat on one of the benches that were scattered about the garden, Pavel gathering his thoughts for a moment before launching into his narrative.

'I vaz offered the chance to vin an inwite in one of my cwasses, and I von it, but zen I lozt it. Zhere vere three giwen, and ve could only hawe zem if ve handed our vork up on time. Carol, zhe vanted me to do her vork, I didn't vant to but zhe made it zo zat it vas zimply eazier if I did. Zen Nyota vanted help, vich took longer zan I thought it vould, but zhe at least had done her vork, juzt needed help vith the editing. I vaz zo buzy hewping ewery one else, I didn't hawe time to do my ovn vork.'

'Those bitches,' commented Hikaru, 'well I'm glad you came at any rate, gatecrashing or not. Just out of curiosity, how did you get in here? Security's pretty tight at these things.'

'Jim Kirk vanted to help, zo he zaid he vould do my vork vile I came in hiz ztead. He didn't vant to come, zo he zought it vaz ze perfect solution.'

'So I take it Pike will not be finding Kirk then?' Hikaru asked, then laughed when Pavel shook his head.

The two of them sat on the bench, talking about everything and nothing at all, ducking out of sight whenever an official happened by. Pavel was feeling warm and content until he realised the time, and with a stab of horror, he realised that he needed to get back to his rooms and meet Kirk. If Pavel didn't, he wouldn't be able to hand up his work, as he didn't give Kirk the details on how to hand it in.

'I am sorry Hikaru, but I need to go,' Pavel said abruptly, running off.

'Wait, you didn't tell me your name!' yelled Hikaru after him, but Pavel didn't hear him.

Pavel made it to his quarters and handed up his work just on time, Kirk leaving with a wink.


	7. Saturday (and Beyond)

Not Mine, Never Mine, Usual Disclaimers.

This chapter was re-worked with help from the wonderful Karlina101.

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><p>Hikaru woke late on Saturday morning, head pounding with his hangover that he had acquired after his mystery guest had left. Pike had found him not long after, looking for Kirk, but finding Hikaru sitting on the bench instead.<p>

'If you're going to miss your party, then at least do it somewhere fun,' Pike commented dryly, 'you haven't seen Kirk around have you?'

Hikaru felt the same mischievous feeling that he had felt when he found out that he was speaking to his gatecrasher.

'You just missed him, he was here a few minutes ago, going on about how he was going to get him some Uhura tail because he was sick of having a boner. Seemed drunk if you ask me.'

Pike had sworn, and Hikaru had headed back into the hall and the bar, everything going fuzzy after about his third drink. The last thing he vaguely remembered, was giving some kind of speech and Pike dragging him off, presumably to bed before he made an even bigger fool of himself. The one thing Hikaru regretted from the whole night, was never finding out the other Cadet's name, especially since he had the feeling that the apparent child-like appearance should be a clue. He groaned and rolled out of bed, stumbling around for some clothes so that he may make his way to the mess without campus security arresting him. After getting a whiff of his own stench, Hikaru changed his plans and headed for the shower instead. His sonic shower was fast, but he missed the relaxing element that a water shower provided.

'Damn it,' he swore under his breath as he stubbed his toe on the toilet.

Eventually he was able to classify himself as non repellent, and was able to make his way to the mess, noting dimly that his roommate didn't seem to have made it home the previous night.

Entering the mess, Hikaru replicated himself the greasiest meal he could think of, and a banana, his preferred hangover recipe. The piece of fruit was to counteract any feeling of being unhealthy from eating nothing but what was essentially different flavoured grease. As he made his way through his meal, Hikaru slowly began to take notice of what was going on around him. Behind him he could hear two people talking about the party last night, from the sounds of it, one had gone and the other had not.

'So you're telling me Pike didn't even notice?'

'I think he was more concerned about the guest of honour making a speech where he attempted to thank his toilet for always being there when he needed it most.'

Hikaru choked on his mouthful, listening in as the two of them continued, oblivious to the fact they were being listened to.

'So not that I really care, but what did you get up to last night?'

'I did Chekov's homework for him.'

'Like you didn't do that in ten minutes.'

Hikaru frowned, he felt like that name should mean something to him, but the part of his brain that dealt with complex thought was still swimming in alcohol.

'Yeah, but I took a peak at the rest of the kid's work, child genius is right. As long as bitches like Uhura leave him alone, he'll get onto any ship he wants.'

Hikaru froze, automatically tuning out the rest of the conversation, he knew the name now, Pavel Chekov, teenage genius, who was rumoured to live in the library. He shoved the rest of his breakfast into his mouth in three large mouthfuls before leaving, he didn't even stop to check to see if the people behind him really were Kirk and McCoy before heading to the library.

Hikaru immediately began scanning the stacks as soon as he arrived at the library, looking to see a familiar face. Spotting a familiar head of curls buried in a stack of PADDS, Hikaru made his way over to the Cadet that he couldn't get out of his head.

'Hey,' he said, dropping into the seat next to the kid.

He grinned as the cadet jumped in his seat, looking at him in shock, with a hint of horror, mouth wide open.

'You left so fast that I didn't get your name. Had to spy on Kirk and McCoy to get it.'

'You zpied for me?' Pavel asked.

'Well McCoy was recounting how I was apparently thanking my toilet,' Hikaru commented.

Pavel scrunched his nose up as he giggled, Hikaru thought it was adorable.

_Adorable, wait what? He's a kid, there are laws against this!_ He thought.

Exactly what This was, he wasn't entirely certain.

'The age of consent is seventeen,' Hikaru blurted out.

Pavel responded quietly, 'in zewenteen in four monthz.'

Hikaru found Pavel's hand under the desk and squeezed it gently, whispering quietly, 'well you did already gatecrash my party, so I'm guessing that you don't mind bending the rules a little, besides, there's other... stuff we can do.'

Pavel packed up his PADDs and threw them into his bag, 'I vant ice cream, real ice cream inwented in Russia. you can tell me vhat this other "stuff" is.'

Hikaru grinned, 'Great, just don't do all everyone else's work again so that you don't have time to see me,' he teased in response, making Pavel flush.

'I von't be doing Marcus' vork again, I von't fall for it again. Uhura vaz my ovn fault, I zould hawe said I vaz buzy and couldn't edit it.'

Hikaru grinned and kissed Pavel on the cheek, making the young cadet turn bright red. Pavel was still flushed pink as he determidly towed Hikaru out the library ten minutes later.

Four months later and a grinning almost-navigator, made out with an almost-pilot from the privacy of said almost-navigator's rooms, the "other stuff" finally climaxing to sheer bliss.

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><p>AN: So that's it folks, I hope you enjoyed it.


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